My thanks go first to the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and especially to James Davison Hunter and John M. Owen IV, who hosted the paper that launched me on this path and then the lectures at the University of Virginia that moved me down the path toward this book. Their steadfast support over the past four years was indispensable.
Second, I must thank my colleagues at the Brookings Institution—too numerous to list—for their willingness to share with me the fruits of their research. I have learned from Brookings scholars in economics, foreign policy, and metropolitan studies as well as in my home base in governance studies. The mélange of disciplines and methods this book employs reflects their influence and is the better for it. In an era of academic hyperspecialization, Brookings represents a genuine intellectual community.
I must express my gratitude to Clara J. Hendrickson, who began as my research assistant and ended as my collaborator. Her ability to assemble, digest, and summarize large quantities of material was invaluable. Her talents as editor and critic improved every page of this book. And she wrote with a maturity beyond her years, so much so that I entrusted her with the first draft of chapter 4. I am not sure I would have finished this book without her; I know her efforts made it better. Needless to say, I bear ultimate responsibility for all its remaining sins, whether of commission or omission.
I am grateful, finally, to Oxford University Press and Johns Hopkins University Press for permission to make use of previously published materials.